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Clanwilliam Dam

Has anyone fished Clanwilliam recently (specifically for SM Bass)?

I will be spending a day there this weekend and would appreciate any info regarding "honey holes", techniques, how they are "biting" at the moment etc. We will be based at the campsite and will not have access to a boat- we will however have float tubes. On our return from the Richtersveld I noticed that the dam is 100% full and looking incredibly healthy- hopefully the bass feel the same way!

I was there in november and had some cracker jack fishing. I fished around the campsite towards the dam wall on float tube and did pick up some solid fish on streamer patterns. I was fishing in the day so didn't bother throwing a popper.

I would not recomend fishing around the campsite on weekends as the boats and ********s on jetskis seem to affect the fish. I didn't catch any fish when there were boats, but when i fished on a weekday, the fish were biting.

I would also recomend fishing down at bulshoek. There is some really good fishing there, just don't poach as the farmers get really upset! If you ask permission properly most of them don't mind. Also you can try below the dam wall, there are some good fish down there.

If you don't mind a drive on a dirt road, the fishing is also really good at the top end of the dam where the river flows in. There should be some 2kg smallies lurking in the vicinity

Just be v security conscious at that campsite, I have heard stories of people having their gear stolen at night.

Hope this helps?
Good luck, I'd really like to hear how the trip goes and hopefully see some pics of big ones......

Kevin, like I told you before the inlet to the dam has some clanwilliam yellows and big bass of over 2kg. Right opposite the campsite is a bay with bluegum trees, in that bay their you will find a lot and about 50 meter upward to the one big bay you will find a fence coming into the dam , their you will find as well..... they only down side it the looooooooooong trip across to the other side

Liam, agreed re Bulshoek- I love that dam but we wont have a boat this time and I personally prefer to fish Bulshoek from a boat. I'll prob go and have a look at the confluence though. Thanks alot re the heads up re the security issues and the boating problems.

John, I forgot you were a CW Bassmaster... Thanks for the info, I was thinking about possibly taking a drive with the car to the bluegums and accessing them from the picnic site...?

This road runs to Citrusdal, connecting Clanwilliam with Citrusdal. Before Clanwilliam you get a turnoff to Algeria (right). This road passes over a low water bridge (Olifants), just after this you can turn left to Clanwilliam or right to Citrusdal, same road as mentioned above. Soon after turning left (+- 1km.) you can park on a flat grass area. Had some good SM bass fishing with Dean Impson here - he showed me the spot.

Chaps- we ended up fishing the dam HARD over two days and the results were, um, well... how can I say this... um, we blanked! The highlight was a fish I lost on a Dahlberg diver!

It was shocking! We fished the whole bottom area of the dam from the campsite down to the wall, the whole way up past the bluegums, the bluegums in the bay across from the campsite, the confluence with the Olifants River, the Olifants River itself... and got NADA!

Three of us fished, I fished exclusively on fly, my one buddy with fly and conventional and my other buddy exclusively with conventional. We tried EVERYTHING, fishing the shallows, drop-offs, the depths, cliff faces, trees etc etc etc. Saw no action either.

THe weather was very frontal and we had major winds and quite a chop which made float tubing rather interesting.

Eish, what can I say? Blanking on SM bass... almost embarrassing! But hey, the unseasonal front must have put the bass down hectically.

An enjoyable time was otherwise had, but eish it was tough. I wanted to prospect a Clanwilliam Yellowfish stream but unfortunately the other chaps were not keen, preferring to try and crack the code on the dam.

Whilst on my tube I phoned every single guy I knew (and had numbers of) that were knowledgeable about the dam, and we headed to every recommended spot (which meant covering MASSIVE distances on my tube (to the strange looks from the locals).

What can I say? Sometimes the fishing ***s are not with you, and this was one of these times. The dam was high, warm and clear- good conditions in my book...